Jordan, The US of A, Environment, Politics, Social criticism. Restaurant, movie and book reviews. What ever thoughts come to mind.
Just trying to make Jordan cool. I know that is futile, but I am trying :-)

Sunday, June 18, 2006

On Travelling

Inshallah, I will be travelling on Tuesday to the US for around 10days, so before I go I felt like writing a few words about Royal Jordanian, the airport and airport tax.

Let me start with the airport tax, which is a true crime against Jordanians, it was invented for reasons that no longer apply or make sense. It's history goes back to the days when the Jordanian Dinar lost more than 2/3rd of it's value and the government wanted to discourage people from travelling. Now, I think that we need more Jordanians to travel to go see the world and maybe bring back a good idea or a fresh perspective. We no longer need Jordanians to travel less. I am sure the government enjoys the extra tax income, but really this tax needs to be reduced especially nowadays with ticket prices sky rocketing because of the fuel and security surcharge.

The second thing that bothers me is Queen Alia Airport, my last girlfriend commented that it was depressing and gloomy. And I guess she was/is right. When you compare it with Hariri's airport, it really is. The other thing that really bothers me is that the booksellers at the airport sell crap, I mean really crappy books. Considering the human traffic going in and out of this airport, I think it is somewhat financially rewarding to have a decent or a halfway decent bookseller.

The third thing and last thing to bother me is RJ; they are enjoying overbooked flights and near full capacity on certain roots, so why are they not increasing the supply to match the demand, this completely baffles me. If they can not have more planes why not cooperate with other airlines? Also, I really can not understand this whole business with confirming reservations three days in advance, I can somewhat understand the logic, but how can other airlines do with out it? It is such an inconvenience, maybe they should check again and see if it is still useful, because I sure am not the only person to feel that it is totally annoying.

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About Me

I am a liberal Jordanian who lived in the US(in Boston) previously for 4yrs and received my degree in Industrial Engineering while there. Now I live in my home country Jordan. I have a lot of observations and some of them can improve this world. I always like to try new things. I like to see mixed things; musical genres, cuisines, any sort of new combination.